Tom Luce

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Personal Information

As an attorney, he was a founding partner of Hughes & Luce, a well-respected regional law firm that grew from four lawyers to more than 150 attorneys during his tenure. It is now part of K&L Gates, a worldwide firm.

During his legal career, he was the lead attorney on multi-billion dollar mergers and acquisitions and commercial litigation and was responsible for unusual transactions such as the purchase of an original Magna Carta and collection of a commercial debt owed by The Islamic Republic of Iran.

At the same time, he managed to engage in public service being appointed five times by Texas Governors to important posts such as Chief Justice Pro Tempore of the Texas Supreme Court and Chairman of the Texas Superconducting Supercollider Commission. He is perhaps best known for his role as the Chief of Staff of the Texas Select Committee of Public Education, which produced one of the first major public school reform efforts in the country in 1984.

In addition, he has taught as a guest lecturer at a number of schools of higher education, including the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin, The University of Texas at Dallas and served as a member of the Board of Trustees of Southern Methodist University.

In the business world, he has served on the Dell, Inc.'s Board of Directors since 1991 and recently joined the Board of Encore Health Resources and is currently self-employed as a Business Consultant.

His life's passion has been volunteer efforts to improve public education for all children. To do so, he has worked to improve local, state and national education policy serving in various appointed positions including a stint as Assistant Secretary for Policy, Planning and Budget at the U.S. Department of Education in the Bush Administration. He has also served as a member of K-12 and undergraduate education working groups for the Presidential Commission of Science and Technology in the Obama Administration.

He has also founded or co-founded and led various non-profit entities to improve education including: the Texas Business and Education Coalition, Just for the Kids, the National Center for Education Accountability and he currently serves as the Chairman of the Board for both The Data Quality Campaign and the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI). Most recently, his work with NMSI has been featured in a national advertising campaign by ExxonMobil, highlighting the success of NMSI in improving math and science education across the country.